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“Blue Mother EarthAn Obsession With Time”
A CD by
Nick ShiresGabriel Publications Ltd.
reviewed by Christine Hall
Putting together a good meditation CD must be a thankless task for an
accomplished musician. To begin with, the artist must write and
perform music that is designed to not only soothe the soul, but which
can unobtrusively remain in the background during a meditation
session. At the same time, the compositions should be texturally rich
and filled with complex passages. Most of all, the music on such a CD
must avoid any comparison with Muzak, otherwise known as elevator
music. This is much like the task that faces a composer of
soundtracks for motion pictures, except that here it’s the
listener’s soul and emotions that are being enhanced, rather
than an on-screen love scene or action sequence.
This is exactly the job that British musician and composer Nick
Shires has undertaken for his CD Blue Mother Earth, An
Obsession With Time. The twelve tunes contained on this disc
are symphonic meditations on twelve separate one word themes, like
“Awakening,” “Joy,” and “Achievement.”
Although each track neatly fits into the overall theme of the album,
each is also complete unto itself, and Shires deftly avoids any
pretentious or oversimplified Yanni-esque influences that have become
much too common in the world of “New Age” music.
The real test of meditation music is in it’s ability to be
satisfying as music in its own right, instead of being just a tool
for meditation. Here, Shires has crafted pieces that are often like a
good movie soundtrack, just as often reminiscent of Debussy, and
occasionally downright bluesy. This old hippie especially likes the
plaintive guitar riffs in the CD’s third cut “Peace.”
To hear streaming audio samples from this album, you can visit
http://www.moulinmusic.com.
For ordering information, email HeatherPedley@compuserve.com.
©Copyright
2003 by AlternativeApproaches.com
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